


If Only in my Dreams

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Alphas and Omegas Universe [14]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Holidays, Humor, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-11
Updated: 2012-12-11
Packaged: 2017-11-20 20:43:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/589439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I'm a good sport Erin so I plan to hold onto this until I sweep you off your feet and you agree to be my girl.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Only in my Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written in the Alphas and Omegas universe where the BAU is in college. The title comes from the song I’ll Be Home for Christmas.

“Hey Rossi,” Danny Wales looked out the living room window of the Alpha Sigma Phi frat house. “The hot blonde is waiting outside for you.”

“Which one?” he called from upstairs laughing.

“You're a dog dude.” Danny laughed too.

“I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Who's out there?” Max Ryan came into the living room drinking a beer.

“That hot blonde from Tri Sig that Rossi has the feeling for the flavor of.” Adam Kurzbard leaned back in the Lazy Boy with a _Maxim_ Magazine. “I think her name is Erin.”

“Erin Strauss?” Max asked.

“I have no idea what her last name is…she's not my girl. It could be.”

Max opened the door and immediately recognized the Beamer. He pulled the door without closing it, walking down the steps. He stood outside the car for a few minutes but Erin paid him no mind. He knew she was doing that on purpose. Since it was cold and drizzling, Max leaned and knocked on the window. Erin looked at him but made no move.

“Dammit Erin, c'mon, it’s cold out here.”

“What do you want, Max?’’ she opened the window as little as humanly possible. It was barely more than a crack.

“I just wanted to say hello and happy holidays. I'm trying to be civil.”

Erin cracked the window a touch more. It still wasn’t much; she didn’t like or trust him.

“Thank you. Happy holidays to you as well.”

“Do you have plans? I know pretty girls like you with money usually hit the slopes of Aspen or something.”

“You’ve read too many Bret Easton Ellis novels.” Erin could barely hide the disdain in her voice. “I’ll be with my family.”

She didn’t want to say anything more about it. Her rational mind knew it was silly but Erin didn’t want to look up wherever she was and see Max Ryan. He had serious stalker-like tendencies.

“That sounds nice. You live in New York right?”

“Max, you don’t need to know where I live. You should probably get back inside. It would suck to catch a cold right before vacation. And I'm closing the window.”

Erin did it before Max could say another word. That guy seriously gave her the creeps. Where was David, she wanted to get on the road? Since she was giving him a free ride the least he could do was be on time.

When Dave walked out of the frat house and saw Max hanging near Erin’s car he wanted to punch his lights out. He didn’t want that guy anywhere near Erin. He walked down the steps, approaching the car.

“Excuse me Max.” it took all Dave had not to shove him out of the way.

“Oh yeah sure.”

When Erin saw Dave there she unlocked the doors. He opened it, putting his backpack on the heated passenger seat.

“Could you open the trunk please?”

“Sure.” she nodded. As soon as he closed the door she locked it again.

Dave went to the trunk and put in his large duffle bag, along with the bag of presents he bought for his family.

“Have a great holiday Dave.” Max said as Dave came back to the side of the car.

“Yeah, you too bro.” 

“Merry Christmas Erin.” he said when Dave opened the door.

“Goodbye Max.”

Dave was barely in the car when it was tearing off down the street. She rode two blocks before stopping.

“Whoa, slow down Jeff Gordon. Are you alright?”

“I'm sorry I just really hate that guy. He's your brother and I shouldn’t say that in front of you but…”

“Its OK, I hate him too. Everyone hates Max, Erin; he's just that kind of guy.”

“You hate him too?” she managed a smile when she asked. “I don’t know about everyone hating him. I see that he can be quite a ladies man.”

“Max is a douche with few redeeming qualities. Some girls dig that though I have no idea why. But I'm not an angel so I'm going to keep my mouth shut about that.”

“That’s good to know…the douche thing I mean.” Erin let out the breath she was holding. She always saw girls clamoring for his attention and just didn’t understand. Yes he was a brother in a popular fraternity. Yes he was on the fast track to being President. 

He was even halfway attractive if you were into douchebag guys. She wasn’t. And she wanted him to stay far away from her. Being out of school for a month, in a Max-free environment, was what Erin wanted to focus on. “By the way, I'm taking you home.”

“I know.” Dave nodded. He put on his seatbelt, which he didn’t have a chance to do as Erin was speeding off. His backpack went down on the floor by his feet. The heated seat was awesome. When he finally got a car it would definitely be part of the package.

“No, I mean I'm going to drive you to Commack.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know that I don’t have to, David.” She glanced at him but then looked straight ahead. It was a cold but busy morning in the nation’s capital and on the American University campus. Nothing seemed weird about a luxury car pulled over at a stop sign. “I'm going to do it anyway. You’ve got a heavy duffle and a bag of gifts. It'll be over an hour on the train from Manhattan and then you still have to get home from the station. I can take you to your door.”

“It’s out of your way.” Dave reasoned.

“It is a bit but I don’t mind. You shouldn’t have to lug your stuff on the train. I offered you a ride…I'm going all the way. Shut up.”

He smirked but said nothing. Then Dave laughed even though he still didn’t say anything. Erin actually laughed too. He loved her laugh but kept that to himself. Every time he gave her compliments she clammed up. This was going to be a five hour ride. Clamming up would make it feel like ten.

“You're very kind.” he smiled.

“I can be.”

“Before you start the car and we get on the road, I bought you something for Christmas.” Dave reached down into his backpack.

“What? You shouldn’t have…David, you didn’t have to do that. I wish you wouldn’t have.”

“You’ve been kind and I wanted to. You didn’t have to give me a ride home and back and home again.”

“I advertised offering someone a ride to New York City. We’re lucky the car isn’t packed.” Erin replied.

“Yeah, that’s true but I'm a guy and you could’ve balked at being alone with me. I wouldn’t have been upset because some guys are creeps. Also, you’ve shown some amazing restraint in not tearing off my clothes. I imagine that has to be incredibly difficult for you.”

“Its excruciating.” Erin rolled her eyes.

“It’s just a token of appreciation.” He handed her the box.

“Thank you.”

Erin didn’t know what to say as she opened the gift, which as good since it left her speechless. It was sterling silver necklace with a diamond cursive E pendant. She didn’t think the diamonds were real but it didn’t matter because it was beautiful anyway. No one had ever given her anything like that before except for her parents.

“Oh my God, this is so beautiful.”

“So you like it?” Dave asked.

“It’s amazing. But David,” she looked at him with sadness in her blue eyes. Then she closed the box. “I couldn’t possibly take this. I know it’s impolite to turn down a gift but I…we’re just acquaintances so…”

“I understand.” He nodded.

“You do?”

“Of course I do. I'm a good sport Erin so I plan to hold onto this until I sweep you off your feet and you agree to be my girl.”

“What?”

“It’s only a matter of time. You might think that I'm a cocky bastard. I might be sometimes but I like you and I think you like me too. So,” he put the gift back in his backpack and grabbed another box. “I got a more sensible backup plan.”

“You are probably one of the strangest people I've ever met.” She said.

“I intrigue you.”

“I guess.” Her tone was noncommittal.

“Open it.”

She sighed but did as he asked. Inside this box was a black pen with a gold E engraved on it. This was beautiful as well, and a much more sensible than a piece of jewelry.

“Its fine point because I know you don’t like medium points.” Dave said. “It’s also a gel pen, which you said was better than ballpoint. Underneath the velvet bed there are four gel refills. I also know that you prefer black ink to blue ink so I made sure you have plenty.”

“You remembered all the things I said about pens, David?” Erin asked.

“I like listening to you when you talk.”

“Well, thank you. It’s lovely.” Erin smiled.

“You're not going to give it back are you?”

“No,” she shook her head. “You still shouldn’t have and I didn’t get you anything.”

“Don’t feel bad. This wasn’t about reciprocity; I wanted to do this.”

“You're infuriating you know.”

“Is that a synonym for devilishly handsome?” Dave asked.

“Shut up.”

Erin started the car and drove off. She put her pen in the console before turning on the radio. If she was listening to music then she wouldn’t have to think too much about Dave.

“We’re not going to have to listen to John Mayer the whole way home, are we?”

“The passenger gets no say.” she replied.

“That’s cruel.”

“My iPod and the tape deck thingie are in the glove compartment if you want to hook it up. We’re going to lose reception on the local stations as soon as we get down I-95.”

“You said thingie.”

“What's your point?” Erin glanced at him.

“No point at all, just making an observation. I know how busy you are at school but maybe while we’re at home we could get together for lunch. We could even see a Broadway show or go to the ballet if you want. I remember you saying how much you love the ballet. _The Nutcracker_ plays until Christmas Eve.”

“I won't even be in New York over most of the holiday. My family is going to my mother’s family estate in the British countryside and then Switzerland for some skiing with the cousins.”

“Are you serious?” Dave raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Erin nodded.

“Well that surely has my matinee tickets beat. Three strikes and I'm out.”

Flip him over because Dave was done. He asked her out three times and every single time she’d said no. She was never rude about it but a no was a no. It was time to stop embarrassing himself. Dave was sure that Erin liked him. 

He may have been a little too sure of himself but he could feel that. Still, she seemed to have no problem turning him down. Like didn’t mean she wanted anything to do with him. He knew Erin wasn’t dating anyone. He knew plenty of men had tried and failed. 

David Rossi was about to be added to that list. He didn’t have a lot of female friends. He dated girls, had great sex with them, but few friends. Losing Erin wasn’t an option he wanted to think about. 

What kind of friends they could be, Dave had no idea. It was a challenge he was ready to face head on though. He didn’t like the idea of losing her. He wondered how she felt but couldn’t contemplate asking her. Asking Erin things seemed to end in him feeling as if he’d been punched in the gut.

Erin didn’t say anything and the air in the car got tense. She wanted to try to make alternate plans; she would be home for at least a week of the vacation. She wasn’t doing it to appease Dave. The truth was that Erin thought she might want to go out with him. It would probably be a disaster. When it was over Erin could finally stop thinking about David Rossi. She really needed to stop doing that.

“Do you have special holiday plans?” she asked. 

Sucking it up, Erin continued the conversation. Five hours of tension wasn’t a good way to spend a ride home. They were free. Another semester of school was in the bag. Erin did well on her finals and expected to be on the Dean’s List again. There was no reason to be anything but happy.

“It’s just gonna be the usually Rossi family shindig.” Dave replied, putting together the iPod so it wouldn’t have to be quiet. The quiet would kill him. “There will be enough food to feed a small country, games, good stories, and wine flowing. We’ll be packed in, hanging from the rafters. It’s one of the few times of year I see nearly the entire family.”

“You have a lot of siblings so it must always be an adventure.”

“That’s one word for it.” he hit play and the music started for Elton John’s _The One_. He though about changing it but didn’t. There was no need to let Erin know that he felt a bit deflated. His father always told him there were plenty of fish in the sea. 

Dave’s goal for 2005 was to find a new one. He would find a lot more new ones. It had never been that difficult for him. El Jefe would just go back on the prowl. “You're an only child?”

“Yes.” Erin nodded. 

She wanted to ask him to change the song but didn’t bother. Why couldn’t she just say yes, I would love to go to the ballet with you? What was holding her back? He was right, it was his third strike. Erin couldn’t believe he asked her out a second time after she turned him down. 

The third time took her completely by surprise. He was El Jefe; surely he had girls knocking down his door trying to date him. That was why Erin felt like she might be a conquest. Some guys were just douches like that. They wanted to go for that one girl that wouldn’t give them the time of day. And after the challenge was conquered he was in the wind. 

Erin didn’t need that kind of defeat in her life. She was almost as scared of falling in love as being duped into it. That didn’t even make sense but it was true. Something in her was scared of what she could feel for David Rossi. He was dangerous and Erin wanted to stay safe.

“Well I hope you have fun on the countryside and everything.”

“Thank you. I hope you enjoy your holiday as well.”

“When we get back Alpha Sig’s throwing a major Welcome Back party. It’ll be right before we get some new pledgies so it’s sure to be a good time. You should grab up some of your sisters and come. It’ll be on the weekend before classes start.”

“Maybe I will.”

“You can be my personal guest.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“There are no hard feelings about the date thing, Erin, I mean that. We can be friends…road buddies just like in the movies.”

“No hard feelings?” she glanced at him when she asked.

“None at all. If it’s meant to be, it will be. No need to push fate; things happen if and when they're supposed to. Sometimes you can tempt it or finagle it but its probably best not to.”

“What do you mean?”

“One of these days you might look at me differently.” Dave replied. “One of these days I might not find you so intriguing. I’m not sure about the latter though. Still, I want to be friends if you want to be.”

“Yeah, OK.” She nodded. “I want to be friends.”

“Cool.” Dave smiled and relaxed in his seat. 

He still felt like an idiot but he’d get over it. Sometimes things just didn’t go the way you wanted them to. That didn’t mean you gave up. He wasn’t giving up on Erin Strauss. He was backing off, that was the best plan, but he wasn’t giving up. Just because he didn’t get his Christmas wish didn’t mean Dave wasn’t planning on making some solid New Year’s Resolutions.

***


End file.
